MONS ANGELS MYTH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LII, Issue 16020, 11 September 1915, Page 2 (Supplement)

MONS ANGELS MYTH.

A MIRACLE FROM FICTION.

ANOTHER RUSSIAN STORY.

One of the roost remarkable minor incidents of the war is the manner in which the story of the appearance of angels to British soldiers in the retreat from Mons has been passed from mouth to mouth in the Expeditionary Force and in England. The story is pure fiction. It was invented by Mr. Arthur Maohen and published by him,-as a work'of fiction, under the title of "The Bowmen," in the London Evening News last September. In the following article from the Daily Mail Mr. Machen relates how the legend has grown. This is the story of the story of "The Bowmen."

My first "inspiration" for the tale came, I think, from an article m the Weekly Despatch. This article told the terrible, tremendous, heroic story of the retreat of the British Army from Mons. It was a tale that burned like fire, and for many days after reading it I thought of that little host of heroes, almost but not quite ringed about with German flames.

I got the notion that turned into " The Bowmen." This was written, and appeared in the Evening News on September 20 or thereabouts. Very briefly -the plot of "The Bowmen" is as follows:—

A British soldier finds himself one out of a thousand companions who are occupying a salient against a furious cannonade and the attack of ten thousand German infantry. The holding of this salient, for a time at least, is vital. Its capture means the turning of the allied left flank, and that means ruin for France and England.

The British see that the position is hopeless. Their guns are overwhelmed

and shot to bits by the enemy's artillery; their numbers are reduced from a thousand to five hundred. They know that they are doomed to death beyond all hope or Help; and they shoot on as calmly as if they were at Bisley.

Then the soldier——remembers the motto that appears on all the plates in the vegetarian restaurant in St. Marin's Lane: Adsit Anglis Sanctus Georgius—may St. George be a present help to the English. He utters this prayer mechanically, and falls instantly into a waking vision. He hears a voice, mighty as a thunder-peal, crying: "Array, array, array! " and the spirits of the old English bowmen obey the command of their patron and ours. The soldier hears their war-cries: " Harow, harow ! St. George, be quick to help us." Dear saint, succour us ! " He sees the flight of their arrows darkening the air. And the other men, to their amazement, see the Germans melting from before them. In a moment a whole regiment crashes to the ground. The men cannot make out what is happening; they suppose a reserve of machine guns may have oeen brought up. At all events, as one says to another, the Germans have "got it- in the neck." And the soldier who is in the world of vision goes on shooting till the man next to him clouts him on the head and tells him not to waste the King's ammunition on dead Germans. . The editor, of the Occult Review was, I think, the first to ask whether the tale had any foundation in fact. He was followed by the .editor of Light. I assured both these gentlemen that I had " made it all. up out of my own head;" that it was net based on any rumour or hint or whisper of any kind or sort, in fine that it was sheer invention. And this is the truth, JHftfrtihv* whole.'.truth,: and nothing but the trtftli* of'the matter; -and lam glad o£ this opportunity of here denying all tales to Hie contrary; ?! "Specifically, I would deny one extremely picturesque legend to the effect that I?got the whole. story in typescript from the hands of a lady-in-waiting.

And then the. fun began. In various quarters my tale was retold as a narrative of fact, as the actual - experience of an actual soldier of soldiers—none of whom has yet been produced. At first these stories followed the lines of " The Bowmen " pretty closely; phrases even were borrowed from the printed tale. Then, by degrees, "they" began to improve on the legend, St. George disappeared. The Bowmen disappeared. Some said that a dark cloud had come between the attacking Germans and the British. Others declared that our men were rescue** by angels; and this version holds the field at present. All the while the story in one form or another was spreading in an incredible manner. It kept turning up in all sorts of places; one could not get away from it. The clergy reprinted the original in their parish magazines, , and both the clergy and the Nonconformist ministers preached sermons on "The Angels of Mons," and I found, to my amusement, that in some quarters my persistent declaration that " The Bowmen " was an invention was very ill received. Dr. Horton, the distinguished Nonconformist teacher, was one of those who preached on the subject. He told me, greatly to my interest, that modern Protestantism no longer sets its face against belief in any miracles not recorded in Holy Writ, The Chaplain - General, Bishop Taylor Smith, preaching in Harrow Chapel, took what seems to me a wise view : that " The Bowmen " is true symbolically, if not actually. A word of warning comes from Dean Hensley Henson preaching at Westminster Abbey. He thinks that the popularity of " The Bowmen " legend may lead to a belief in miracles becoming general, a contingency which ha seems to contemplate with some degree of horror.